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“Nice Girls” is a Netflix movie starring Alice Taglioni and Stéfi Celma. It is directed by Noémie Saglio.

Featuring two endearing and utterly unconventional girls, this film breaks away from the typical French high comedy stereotypes. Instead, it presents two police officers who neither dress in glamorous attire nor conform to expected behavior, creating humor through an unexpected, refreshing lens. The film is straightforward and charming, with the sole purpose of eliciting laughter.

About the Film

This comedy is unabashedly what it sets out to be: a comedy. Despite a backdrop involving corrupt cops, hackers, and more, “Nice Girls” finds its humor in witty dialogues and a slightly old-fashioned portrayal of characters who deftly navigate and subvert their own stereotypes. Imagine “Miami Vice” stripped of all its glamour, transforming its two leads into near parodies with the simple aim of providing a good time.

The film boasts clever dialogues, stunning landscapes,...

Tim Burton was moved to tears as he was given a lengthy standing ovation in the French city of Lyon where he received the Lumière lifetime achievement award at the eponymous festival named after the brothers who invented the Cinematograph.

The U.S. filmmaker took to the stage looking as gawky and embarrassed as a character straight out of one of his films, overwhelmed by all the attention he was receiving.

As he was handed the prize by Italian actor Monica Bellucci, who was a honorary guest at the festival, he said: “All my life put together, I have never felt so much love as tonight. Welcome to the best funeral I ever had!” he exclaimed, adding: “It is such an honor to be in the birthplace of cinema. This is one of most beautiful, pure, simple festivals I have ever been to – it’s all about the love of movies.

Gaumont has come on board “Fantasies,” a sex-themed French comedy headlined by Monica Bellucci (“Spectre”), Carole Bouquet (“For Your Eyes Only”) and Karine Viard (“Famille Belier”).

Directed by David and Stephane Foenkinos, the omnibus film follows six couples and revolves around their intimate lives and fantasies, from role-playing to exhibitionism and abstinence.

Besides Bellucci, Bouquet and Viard, the film stars Suzanne Clément (“Mommy”), Jean-Paul Rouve (“C’est la Vie!”), Joséphine Japy (“Love at Second Sight”), Denis Podalydès (“An Officer and a Spy”), Céline Sallette (“The Returned”), Nicolas Bedos (“Mr & Mrs Adelman”), Ramzy Bedia (“Lost Bullet”), Alice Taglioni (“Claire Darling”), Joséphine de Meaux (“Dheepan”) and William Lebghil (“C’est la Vie!”)

“Fantasies” is in post-production and will be released in France by Gaumont during the second semester of 2021. Gaumont is handling international sales on the movie and will introduce it to buyers at the American Film Market, which kicks off Monday.

“With its glamorous cast,...

"We can try to figure out what Simon would have wanted." Cohen Media Group has debuted an official Us trailer for the French indie drama Heal the Living, based on the book of the same name (Réparer les vivants) by Maylis De Kerangal. The film stars Tahar Rahim (from A Prophet and The Past) as Thomas Rémige, a doctor who is tasked with caring for a young teenage surfer boy who is in a coma after a car crash. The story follows the lives of three different people, and how they connect after a horrific accident. The cast includes Emmanuelle Seigner, Anne Dorval, Bouli Lanners, Kool Shen, Monia Chokri, and Alice Taglioni. The film already played at film festivals last fall, and opens this month. This has some stunning cinematography, and it looks like a tender, emotional film about grief. This trailer totally got my attention. Here's the official Us...

Exclusive: Comedy centres on woman who wakes up one morning with something extra.

Elle Driver is reporting brisk business on Audrey Dana’s comedy If I Were A Boy following a packed screening at the Unifrance Rendez-vous With French Cinema in Paris, which runs from January 12-16.

Popular French actress Dana directs and stars as the unlucky-in-love heroine Jeanne – a recently-divorced single mother who has sworn off men.

One morning she wakes up with a penis – a development that mystifies her gynaecologist and results in some quirky situations as Jeanne navigates her way – emotionally and physically – through the unprecedented development.

Other cast members include Serial (Bad) Weddings star Christian Clavier; Eric Elmosnino, whose recent credits include the hit La Famille Bélier; and Alice Belaïdi (A Little Job, The Climb).

It is Dana’s second feature in the director’s chair after her 2014 ensemble work French Women (Sous Les Jupes des Filles) co-starring Isabelle Adjani, Laetitia Casta, [link...

Toronto International Film Festival continues to add to its already eclectic slate by announcing their Platform line-up today. Beginning last year as a special program to highlight auteur-driven features from around the world, this year’s line-up looks remarkably strong, opening with Bertrand Bonello‘s Paris-set terrorism drama Nocturama.

Also featuring new films from Fien Troch, Zacharias Kunuk, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Ivan Sen, Katell Quillévéré, Khyentse Norbu, Pablo Larraín, William Oldroyd, Mijke de Jong, Barry Jenkins, Mathieu Denis, and Simon Lavoie, check out the line-up below.

Daguerrotype (Le Secret de la chambre noire) Kiyoshi Kurosawa, France/Japan/Belgium

World Premiere

Kiyoshi Kurosawa makes his first film outside Japan with this French-language ghost romance fantasy, about an aging photographer whose obsession with an archaic technique draws his young assistant and beautiful daughter into a dark and mysterious world. Starring Tahar Rahim, Constance Rousseau, Olivier Gourmet, and Mathieu Amalric. ***

Goldstone Ivan Sen, Australia...

Chicago – Occasionally, a film breaks through the miasma of images, and proclaims its uniqueness by just being weird. Case in point, the strange and wacky “Puerto Ricans in Paris,” which may have been created after two rich film producers made a one dollar bet (ala “Trading Places”) that they could come up with a movie simply based on the title.

Rating: 3.5/5.0

With a plot that would be at home in a 1970s cop drama – New York City undercover cops of Puerto Rican heritage go to Paris to break up a counterfeit designer purse crime – the absurdity of the situation and the actors playing the cops are almost secondary to the off-the-grid humor that emerges both because of and despite the situation. The film also looks good, better than would be expected for such a story, and Paris gets its due as a destination. One of the best examples of the bizarre nature of the way this film was approached, is the casting of Edgar Garcia (whose only major credit was in HBO’s “How to Make it in America,” created by Ian Edelman, the director of this film). He portrays the more romantic of the two cops in Paris, despite his tattooed girth and bald head. Obviously, Edgar has something on Ian.

Luis (Luis Guzmán) and Eddie (Edgar Garcia) are undercover New York City cops, whose beat is busting counterfeit designer purse criminals. After a successful exposure of a one such crook, they are approached by a Paris designer named Collette (Alice Taglioni) to come to the City of Lights to retrieve a hot designer bag – stolen right before its anticipated release.

Lured by a large reward, the two fish-out-of-water lawmen start living in luxury in Paris, while coming up with ever more outlandish ways to check out Collette’s staff for the possible thief. In the meantime, the same Collette has a crush on Eddie, which wouldn’t sit right with his wife Gloria (Rosie Perez). There are many complications to consider before this case can be solved.

”Puerto Ricans in Paris” continues its limited release in Chicago on June 10th, and is available through digital download. See local listings for theaters and showtimes, plus see digital providers for availability. Featuring Luis Guzman, Edgar Garcia, Rosario Dawson, Rosie Perez, Miriam Shor and Alice Taglioni. Written by Ian Edelman and Neel Shah. Directed by Ian Edelman. Rated “R”

Continue reading for Patrick McDonald’s full review of “Puerto Ricans in Paris”

Luis (Luis Guzmán) and Eddie (Edgar Garcia) in ‘Puerto Ricans in Paris’

Photo credit: Focus World

Continue reading for Patrick McDonald’s full review of “Puerto Ricans in Paris”...

Back in the 1980s, films like Lethal Weapon and 48 Hours were instrumental in the creation and popularization of the modern buddy cop comedy, and ever since, countless other releases — from Rush Hour to 21 Jump Street — have built franchises off of the appeal of a mismatched pair of do-gooders who bicker just as often as they take down the criminal element. It’s with this history in its rearview that Puerto Ricans in Paris must contend, as it attempts to provide its own take on the tried-and-true broad appeal that the buddy cop genre has cultivated over the past 30 years.

The film stars character actor Luis Guzmán — who also produces the film — and Edgar Garcia (not to be confused with the mixed martial artist with whom he shares his name) as two New York City cops who are recruited to track down a stolen purse in Paris and prevent an elaborate counterfeiting scheme.

Exclusive: Oscar-nominated Bouchareb explores plight of parents who lose children to Isis.Elle Driver has boarded Jorge Michael Grau’s earthquake drama 7.19 am and Rachid Bouchareb’s Road to Istanbul [pictured], about a mother who goes in pursuit of her Isis recruit daughter, ahead of the American Film Market (Afm). The company also start pre-sales on Audrey Dana’s comedy If I Were a Boy, in which she stars as a woman who wakes up with a penis, and Harry Cleven’s fantasy romance Angel. Franco-Algerian Bouchareb’s Road to Istanbul stars Belgian actress Astrid Whettnall as a single mother on a quest to find her 18-year-old daughter after she leaves Belgium to join the Islamic State with a Jihadist boyfriend. “My goal is to film the incomprehension of a mother totally caught off guard by the changes in her daughter on reaching legal age… Alone, divorced and abandoned by the authorities, she must try...

Focus World, the multi-platform distribution initiative that is owned and operated by Focus Features, has acquired USA rights to the dramedy "Puerto Ricans in Paris." Making its world premiere at the Los Angeles Film Festival earlier this year (June), the film (a USA/France/Czech Republic co-production) is directed by Ian Edelman (HBO’s "How to Make It in America"), and stars Luiz Guzmánm, Edgar Garcia, Rosario Dawson, Rosie Perez, Alice Taglioni, Miriam Shor, and Frederic Anscombre, in a story that follows 2 detectives working in NYPD’s Luxury Goods Recovery Unit, who are responsible for taking...

Plus… Focus World acquires Puerto Ricans In Paris; Abramorama to release Rock In The Red Zone; The Bequest begins Canada shoot; and more.Wolfe Releasing has acquired North American rights from Rj Millard of Obscured Pictures to Joey Kuhn’s Upper East Side gay love triangle drama Those People ahead of a screening at the NewFest New York Lgbt Film Festival this weekend. The film will open on DVD, VOD and multiple digital platforms in the second quarter of 2016, including a limited theatrical release in top markets. Jonathan Gordon, Jason Ralph, Haaz Sleiman, Britt Lower, and Meghann Fahy, Chris Conroy and Allison Mackie star (pictured).

Producer Christine Guenther in Berlin, producer Chevy K Chen in Los Angeles and filmmaker Susan Korda in New York have launched the production label Fireglory aimed at creating independent films guided by an emphasis on equal opportunities for female filmmakers. Documentary Cassette from Zack Taylor is in post and Salomea’s Nose...

A particularly hard type of film about which to write critically is the comedy of modest ambition that achieves its aim with an acceptable amount of appeal in playing, gags, plot, and outlook, but little more. One does not wish to criticize for not being more (not least as so many are so less), nor to overpraise its slight achievements, leaving one mostly in the territory of reportage, rather than critical appraisal. Which is a way of saying that such a film is Puerto Ricans in Paris, a perfectly inoffensive, oftentimes smile-raising fish-out-of-water/culture-clash comedy that does what it aims to do pretty much without fault.

The Puerto Ricans in question are Luis (Luis Guzmán) and Eddie (Edgar Garcia, like Guzmán, a regular on director Ian Edelman’s HBO series “How To Make It In America), and they play well together – Guzmán furrows his brow a lot, and Garcia is like a nice,...

Making its world premiere at the upcoming Los Angeles Film Festival next month - June 10 through June 18 - Luiz Guzmánm, Edgar Garcia, Rosario Dawson, Rosie Perez, Alice Taglioni, Miriam Shor, and Frederic Anscombre star in the dramedy "Puerto Ricans in Paris." Shot last year, the film (a USA/France/Czech Republic co-production) is directed by Ian Edelman (HBO’s "How to Make It in America"), with a story that follows 2 detectives working in NYPD’s Luxury Goods Recovery Unit, who are responsible for taking down bootleggers selling knockoff consumer items. The 2 cops are played not by Dawson and Perez (as some...

Exclusive: France’s Snd has sealed several deals on Jerome Le Maire’s viticulture themed family drama First Growth (Premier Cru) following its market premiere in Cannes.

It has sold to Australia and New Zealand (eOne), Benelux (Liberty Production Lux), Turkey (Filma Ltd),Portugal (Nos Lusomundo), Taiwan (Moviecloud L), Hong Kong (Golden Scene) Japan (New Select) and Korea (Sejong).

The film stars Jalil Lespert as a top wine critic who returns to his native Burgundy to revive the family vineyard, learning the art of wine-making from scratch. Alice Taglioni and Gerard Lanvin are also in the cast.

“The movie delivers both a romance portrayed by top-notch actors and a story of wine-making and transmission,” said Snd sales chief Charlotte Boucon.

Colt 45

Director: Fabrice Du Welz

Writer: Fathi Beddiar

Producers: Julien Arnoux, Sébastien Delloye, Thomas Langmann, Emmanuel Montamat

U.S. Distributor: Rights Avilable

Cast: Gerard Lanvin, Joey Starr, Alice Taglioni, Philippe Nahon

The very busy Belgian director Fabrice Du Welz makes our 2014 list twice (see the number 20 position), and this second entry feels like more of departure for the director. An cop thriller from a first time screenwriter, we’re curious to see Welz’s union with Joey Starr, along with uniting once more with the generally terrifying Philippe Nahon.

Gist: Weapon supervisor and shooting instructor for National Police, Vincent Milès is an expert in combat shooting. He’s only 25 and the elites from all around the globe are courting him. Against all odds, he refuses to join the prestigious field squads. His life takes a crucial turn when he meets Milo Cardena, a mysterious field agent, who drags him...

Title: Zaytoun Strand Releasing Director: Eran Riklis Screenwriter: Jader Rizq Cast: Stephen Dorff, Abdallah El Akal, Alice Taglioni, Loai Nofi, Ali Suliman, Ashraf Barhom Screened at: Review 2, NYC, 9/3/13 Opens: September 20, 2013 The family that pees together, stays together, or at least that’s what the two lead persons in Eran Riklis’s “Zaytoun” have demonstrated. Though the family in this case is just two people and only distant cousins, when they simultaneously water the dry landscape in the sticks of Lebanon, their bonding is assured. The film features a remarkable performance from the fifteen-year-old Abdalla El Akal as Fahed a twelve-year-old Palestinian refugee in an unhappy camp in Lebanon. [ Read More ]

The post Zaytoun Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

Shades of Woody Allen do nothing to help this mediocre French romantic comedy

A low-octane French attempt to channel the spirit of Play It Again Sam. Alice Taglioni is a single thirtysomething holding out for Mr Right, while looking to a Woody Allen poster for advice. By itself, this would just be one of those workmanlike relationship films the French turn out by the yard; but all the Allen stuff throws its mediocrity into sharp relief.

Rating: 2/5

ComedyRomanceWorld cinemaAndrew Pulver

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Sophie Lellouche’s love letter to Woody Allen and directorial debut Paris-Manhattan, begins with a homage to the great filmmakers familiar opening titles, with a simplistic white writing against a plain, black background. However they aren’t presented in the same, infamous Windsor font, and it’s this slight indifference which sets the precedence for how the rest of this picture will play out, as although certainly a charming and genial tribute to Allen, it just isn’t quite as accomplished or ingenious as his work.

Alice Taglioni plays Alice, a Woody Allen obsessive who runs the family owned pharmacy, where she believes that classic movies such as Manhattan and Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex (But Were Afraid to Ask) are the perfect remedy to her customers conditions. However such films can’t cure herself of loneliness, as she struggles to find a partner – despite her father...

A documentary celebrating the eccentric master of fish flies, Megan Boyd; how Mamma Mia! star Dominic Cooper got a taste for real ale; and Woody Allen steps out from behind the camera

Fishing for film gold

The Edinburgh international film festival starts this week, casting its net wide with Korean films and American indies. But this 67th edition might be remembered for a very local tale and one of the unlikeliest documentaries that's ever hooked me. It's called Kiss the Water: A Love Story, a portrait of an eccentric, almost hermit-like woman called Megan Boyd who became the world's foremost maker of salmon flies. Seriously. Prince Charles was one of her loyal clients, even delivering her OBE to her cottage because Boyd couldn't be bothered with the fuss of going to the palace to accept it from the Queen.

The film is by American doc maker Eric Steel, whose last film,...

With the advent of bullet-cam and the various slo-mo elements used as visual punctuation, American blockbusters often veer into muscle-bound, shoot-'em-up fantasy. Eric Valette's action thriller The Prey (La Proie), on the other hand, roots itself in the realm of the possible, if not always the plausible. Convicted bank robber Franck Adrien (Albert Dupontel) trusts the wrong man in prison, and soon his former cellmate, sex offender Jean-Louis Maurel (Stéphane Debac), has placed his wife and child in jeopardy, and is framing him for a string of teen killings. When Adrien breaks out of prison to protect his family, detective Claire Linné (Alice Taglioni) is pulled away from dismantling a crime family and charged with tracking him down. DNA evidence points to <...

The Chase Begins: Valette’s Latest Shows Promise, Falls Short

French director Eric Valette, whose 2002 debut Malefique was an overbaked grindhouse misfire (even though it certainly didn’t lack in perverse flair), has made his most promising film yet with the poppy, pulpy and generically titled The Prey. While languishing in forgettable material since for some time now (including the English language version of One Missed Call), Valette still doesn’t transcend B movie trappings with this latest, but he manages to use his likeable lead in a slickly paced exercise stuffed with plenty of entertaining details to hold your interest.

We meet Franck Adrien (Albert Dupontel) in the middle of sexual interlude with his wife Anna (Caterina Murino), though we quickly realize that Franck is in prison and this is a conjugal visit. It turns out that Franck was responsible for a lofty bank heist, and he was never...

Title: The Prey (La proie) Cohen Media Group Director: Eric Valette Screenwriter: Laurent Turner, Luc Bossi Cast: Albert Dupontel, Alice Taglioni, Stéphane Debac, Sergi López, Nathacha Régnier, Serve Hazanavicius Screened at: Review 1, NYC, 5/29/13 Opens: June 7, 2013 One might guess that Eric Valette, who directs “The Prey,” was influenced by Tom Tykwer’s 1998 movie “Run Lola Run.” That one found a German woman needing to get a large sum of money to her boyfriend in twenty minutes before he robs a supermarket. “La proie,” as this film is called in its original French, does not follow the same concept but not since 1998 have I ever seen so [ Read More ]

The post The Prey Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

See the poster as well as new images from Cohen Media Group's The Prey, starring Albert Dupontel and Alice Taglioni. The film opens in New York on June 7th, under the direction of Eric Valette. Scripted by Laurent Turner and Luc Bossi, the story follows Franck Adrien (Albert Dupontel), a bank robber convicted of a heist and sentenced to six months in prison, who shares a cell with seemingly weak Jean Louis Morel. Not long after Morel’s release, it is revealed that Morel is a sadistic serial killer, and knows private details of Adrien’s life. Adrien must break out of prison, pursue Morel, and evade the most elite French police teams hunting him.

Love isn’t always easy, but sometimes the wisdom you need to navigate matters of the heart can be found in the movies. Cinema actually contains the answers to most of life’s questions provided you ask the right ones, know where to look and don’t have terrible taste in films. This is well-established fact. Alice (Alice Taglioni) is a believer in this theory I just made up, but she subscribes to a very specific application of it. Put simply, she loves Woody Allen and his films to the point that she has conversations with the life-size poster of him in her bedroom. She asks for advice, and he replies with dialogue from his movies. The results haven’t exactly been spectacular, but she’s convinced that he knows what he’s talking about. She meets and falls for a young man, but her sister swoops him up and makes him her own. Ten years later...

Unless you watch Nancy Meyers's romantic-comedy oeuvre strictly for the interior design and decor, there's little to note about Sophie Lellouche's shallow, witless but pretty enough French ode to Woody Allen, couched in a loose revision of 1972's Play It Again, Sam. A model-thin blond beauty with perfect cheekbones, Alice Taglioni is unconvincingly cast as Alice, a lovelorn loner (perhaps we're meant to see her as drab because she's styled like a tomboy?) who has been obsessed since a teenager with, not Humphrey Bogart, but the Woodman himself. She even gets relationship advice from a vintage poster of Allen in her bedroom, imagined as voiceover line readings from his films, and when in doubt Lellouche cues up funnier clips from yesteryear, like Gene Wilder in bed with a sheep f...

Safety Not Guaranteed | Jack Reacher | Midnight's Children | Grabbers | Zaytoun | Parental Guidance

Safety Not Guaranteed (15) (Colin Trevorrow, 2012, Us) Aubrey Plaza, Mark Duplass, Jake Johnson, Karan Soni, Jenica Bergere. 86 mins

A man puts an ad in the local paper seeking a companion for his time-travel mission. Is this a prelude to a sci-fi adventure or an inventive lonelyhearts ad? We're strung along as to whether or not this guy's genuine for so long, there's room to smuggle in a relaxed indie romcom in the interim – Plaza is great company as she forges a connection with the paranoid inventor (Duplass). The sci-fi element isn't quite a red herring, but by the time it flowers, we've already learned plenty about living in the past.

Jack Reacher (12A) (Christopher McQuarrie, 2012, Us) Tom Cruise, Rosamund Pike, Richard Jenkins. 130 mins

After the atrocity of Rock Of Ages, Cruise is back in his comfort zone as Lee Child's lone-wolf military detective,...

In case you’re not so familiar with this movie, don’t worry – we’re here to inform you that Zaytoun is an upcoming war drama which comes from director Eran Riklis and stars Stephen Dorff in the leading role. The movie was the runner-up for the People’s Choice Award at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, and the good news is that today we have a great trailer from the whole thing to share with you!

Eran Riklis directed the movie from a script written by Nader Rizq, which centers on an Israeli fighter pilot who is shot down over Lebanon and must make his way across the war-torn country with the aid of an angry young Palestinian boy. In other words – sometimes the only friend you have is your enemy.

As you already guess, Stephen Dorff plays that fighter pilot, while the rest of the cast includes Alice Taglioni,...

Paris-Manhattan

Written and directed by Sophie Lellouche

France, 2012

Concerning a Woody Allen obsessive, Paris-Manhattan borrows a central conceit from one of the man’s most beloved writing and acting efforts, albeit not one he directed himself. Instead of the apparition of Humphrey Bogart appearing to deliver advice like in Play It Again, Sam, Allen himself, in the form of a life-size poster and extracts from his films, is the maxim-dispenser of Sophie Lellouche’s debut feature.

In the film’s opening, protagonist Alice (Alice Taglioni) explains in voice-over that she and Woody Allen formed a connection when she first saw one of his films (Hannah and Her Sisters) at age fifteen, and that, in reference to Allen’s prolific work-rate, the two have maintained an annual “relationship” ever since. In the narrative’s present, Alice is single and working at her father’s pharmacy. Having found all answers to her...

120 companies looking to buy films will attend the American Film Market for the first time, part of the more than 750 distributors from 75 countries that have registered for the only stand-alone theatrical feature film market (all others are attached to festivals) October 31-November 7 in Santa Monica. Korea (25), China (13), and the U.S. (11) lead the way with the most newcomers, AFM Managing Director and Independent Film & Television Alliance EVP Jonathan Wolf said in a release. “We are seeing a shift in the way sub-distributors acquire film as they steadily rely less on local distributors and more on direct acquisitions”, he said. “We also expect a significant increase in buyers from China.” AFM expects 1,500 individuals from these companies at the market from more than 70 countries. More than 420 features will screen including 77 world premieres and 306 market premieres. The numbers of prebuys are also looking good after their near demise in the financial crisis of 2008.

Films making their World Premieres include: A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III, from writer/director Roman Coppola and starring Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman and Charlie Sheen (Independent) was first announced at the Berlin EFM 2012 and has already presold to Koch Media Gmbh for Germany, Canana for Mexico, Praesens-Film AG for Switzerland; Cottage Country, starring Malin Akerman and Lucy Punch (Vmi Worldwide); The Frozen Ground, starring Nicolas Cage, John Cusack and Vanessa Hudgens (Voltage Pictures), which has already sold to Brazil (Imagem Filmes Distribuidora Ltda), Italy (Videa - Cde S.P.A.), Japan (Culture Convenience Club Co.,Ltd. / Culture Publishers Company), Netherlands (Independent Films), And Turkey (Calinos Films); Nous York, starring Leila Bekhti and Géraldine Nakache (Pathé International); The Numbers Station, starring John Cusack and Malin Akerman (Content) which was presold over the past year to Sena For Iceland, Pomi International For Indonesia, Content Media Corporation Plc For U.K. And Grandview Castle Entertainment for U.S., Pawn, starring Nikki Reed and Ray Liotta (Red Sea Media) and Summer In February, starring Dominic Cooper and Emily Browning (Speranza13 Media).

Among the 306 films set to make their Market Premieres are The ABCs of Death starring Ingrid Bolsø Berdal and Iván González (Magnolia Pictures (for which Praesens has already acquired Swiss rights, ); Come Out and Play, starring Daniel Gimenez Cacho and Vinessa Shaw (Celsius Entertainment) for which Metrodome has U.K; Ginger and Rosa, starring Christina Hendricks and Elle Fanning (The Match Factory); Here Comes the Devil, starring Francisco Barreiro and Laura Caro (Mpi Media Group) for which Metrodome has U.K.; Kon-Tiki, starring Pål Sverre Valheim Hagen (HanWay Films) which is owned by A Contracorriente for Spain; Quartet, starring Maggie Smith and Michael Gambon, and directed by Dustin Hoffman (HanWay Films) already licensed to Germany – Dcm, Hungary - Ads Service Ltd., Israel - Lev Films (Shani Films), Spain - Vertice Cine, Simon Killer, starring Brady Corbet and Mati Diop (Fortissimo Film) for which IFC has U.S.; and Zaytoun starring Stephen Dorff and Alice Taglioni (Pathé International).

Other Market Premieres include: After, starring Steven Strait and Karolina Wydra (Jinga Films); The Assassins, starring Chow Yun-Fat, Yifei Liu and written by Bin Wang (Easternlight) for which Well Go has U.S. rights; Dan Mirvish's Between Us, starring Melissa George, Julia Stiles, and Taye Diggs (Premiere Entertainment Group Elias Axume's new company) which Premiere will release theatrically; a 10 minute promo of The Body, starring Belén Rueda and Hugo Silva (DeAPlaneta Internacional) which Dark Light Media will release in China; Boxing Day which premiered in Venice, starring Danny Huston and Matthew Jacobs (Independent); The Brass Teapot, starring Juno Temple, Alexis Bledel, and Annette Bening (TF1 International); Fin (The End), starring Maribel Verdu (Film Factory Entertainment) sold to France-Tf1 International, Hong Kong (China)-Intercontinental Films Dist. (Hk) Ltd., Mexico-Cien Films, New Zealand-Vendetta Films; Great Expectations, starring Helena Bonham Carter and Ralph Fiennes (HanWay Films) sold to Belgium-Paradiso Filmed Entertainment, Germany-Telepool Gmbh, Italy-Videa - Cde S.P.A., Korea (South)-Daisy & Cinergy Entertainment, Poland-Gutek Film Ltd, Russia-Carmen Film Group, Spain-A Contracorriente Films, Switzerland-Pathe Films Ag, United Arab Emirates-Front Row Filmed Entertainment, United Kingdom-Lionsgate Uk Ltd, Usa-Unison Films; Greetings from Tim Buckley, starring Penn Badgley and Imogen Poots (Celluloid Dreams) which Celluloid Dreams will distribute in France; A Late Quartet, starring Philip Seymour Hoffman and Christopher Walken (WestEnd Films) presold to Australia-Hopscotch, Netherlands-Wild Bunch Benelux, Spain-Savor Ediciones, S.A.; The Reluctant Fundamentalist after its Toronto debut, starring Kate Hudson and Liev Schreiber (K5 International) sold to Vendetta for N.Z.; Revenge for Jolly!, starring Elijah Wood, Ryan Phillippe, and Kristen Wiig (Highland Film Group); Harmony Korine's Spring Breakers, straight out of Tiff 12, starring James Franco, Selena Gomez and Vanessa Hudgens (Kinology) sold to Canada-V V S Films, France-Mars Films, Germany-Wild Bunch Germany; Thanks for Sharing, starring Mark Ruffalo and Gwyneth Paltrow and written by Stuart Blumberg (Voltage Pictures) sold to Roadside Attractions for U.S., Germany and Switzerland-Falcom Media, Greece-Strada Films, Italy-Minerva Pictures Group; What Maisie Knew, starring Alexander Skarsgård and Julianne Moore (Fortissimo Film) sold to Millennium for U.S., Germany-Pandastorm Pictures Gmbh, Turkey-Bir Film; and Writers (Tiff 12), starring Greg Kinnear, Logan Lerman, Kristen Bell, Jennifer Connelly, and Lily Collins, (The Solution Entertainment Group).

For Complete Rights Roundup Before, During And After The Major Festivals And Markets, Notify Sydney Levine Via Email Sydney At Sydneysbuzz.

Zaytoun

Directed by Eran Riklis

Written by Nader Rizq

Starring Stephen Dorff, Alice Taglioni, Ashraf Barhom, Abdallah El Akal

If you like me you sometimes despair of the power of cinema, or how a single inept, obviously inciteful piece of so called ‘film’ is able to inflame a portion of the world to murderous violence then the new Israeli / Palestinian drama Zaytoun might just be the perfect antidote to such depressing, reactionary and manufactered reactions. It is 1982, in the period immediately preceding the Lebanon / Israeli conflict, and Israeli fighter pilot Yoni (Dorff) parachutes out of his crashing plane into the hands of Palestinian rebels in Beirut. The Plo have alighted to the country in order to set up up a more stable headquarters, with many Palestinian refugees fleeing to the country, mostly unwelcome and living in squalid camps. The insurgants assign the task of safeguarding their immensely precious hostage to a group of children,...

The hero of this slick French thriller, a likable, hard-as-nails bank robber, escapes from jail to pursue his former cellmate, a chillingly manipulative paedophile serial killer who's threatening his daughter. There's perhaps a little too much running and chasing but the pace doesn't let up, the end is an authentic cliffhanger, and Alice Taglioni gives an attractive performance as a plainclothes cop. Sergi López (the Spanish actor best known here for Harry, He's Here to Help, Pan's Labyrinth and Dirty Pretty Things) makes a brief, telling appearance as an obsessed ex-cop.

ThrillerPhilip French

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Magic Mike (15)

(Steven Soderbergh, 2012, Us) Channing Tatum, Alex Pettyfer, Cody Horn, Matthew McConaughey, Olivia Munn. 110 mins

The roles are reversed but the themes are familiar in this rise-and-fall tale of male strippers, making and losing their way in a (sort of) woman's world. It's like a cross between The Full Monty, Boogie Nights and Showgirls, sketching a landscape of exploitation and desperation – even as it participates in it by serving up the barely clad Tatum and other beef products.

Seeking A Friend For The End Of The World (15)

(Lorene Scafaria, 2012, Us) Steve Carell, Keira Knightley, Patton Oswalt. 101 mins

Do passion and the apocalypse mix? Or Carell and Knightley? This faltering effort tries anyway.

Detachment (15)

(Tony Kaye, 2011, Us) Adrien Brody, Marcia Gay Harden. 98 mins

No provocation left behind in this scathing schoolroom drama with a starry cast.

Ice Age 4: Continental Drift (U)

(Steve Martino, Mark Thurmeier, 2012, Us) Ray Romano, Denis Leary.

Stephen Dorff has been added to the cast of Zaytown. The film, which is the first ever co-production between the UK and Israel, will be directed by Eran Riklis (Lemon Tree) and produced by Oscar-winning producer Gareth Unwin (The King's Speech). The Hollywood Reporter says that Dorff will play an as-yet-unconfirmed role, joining a cast that also includes Alice Taglioni, Lemon Tree actors Loai Nofi and Tarik Kopty, and The Kingdom's Ashraf Barhom. Riklis said: "After The Syrian Bride and Lemon Tree, I thought I completed (more)...

London – Stephen Dorff and Alice Taglioni are to star alongside Loai Nofi (Lemon Tree), Tarik Kopty (Lemon Tree), Ashraf Barhom (The Kingdom) and Ali Suliman (Body of Lies) in Eran Riklis’ U.K./Israel co-production Zaytoun. Oscar-winning producer Gareth Unwin (The King’s Speech) is producing under his Bedlam Productions the movie developed by Fred Ritzenberg of Far Films with Riklis from a script penned by Palestinian scribe Nader Rizq. Story: Oscar-Winning Producer Gareth Unwin Sets Up First U.K./Israel Co-Production Jony Arbid (For My Father) and singer and actress Mira Awad has also signed for the movie which

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Cash

Stars: Jean Dujardin, Jean Reno, Valeria Golino, Alice Taglioni | Written and Directed by Éric Besnard

Part of the fun of being a deckhand for the good ship Blogomatic3000 is reviewing DVDs. More often than not, I never know exactly what’s going to arrive in the post and again more often than not, I think it’s fair to say, the DVD screeners are usually fairly obscure fare. As such, I might not know anything other than the film’s title when I push it into the DVD player, which was exactly the case with Cash. What would it be? A hard hitting documentary about capitalism? A rom-com set in a bank? That long-awaited biopic of Australia’s finest tennis player? I was just hoping it wasn’t another godawful 50 Cent gangsta flick.

Turns out, Cash is a fairly charming French heist film, first released in 2008. 2008? I hear you...

With reports out of France that Woody Allen is shooting a cameo for the film "Paris Manhattan," a comedy from first-time director Sophie Lellouche in which part of the plot revolves around a pharmacist (Alice Taglioni) so obsessed with his work she prescribes DVDs of his films to patients, the 75-year-old filmmaker continues a tradition of picking peculiar projects to appear in outside of his own.

In a career that's entering its fifth decade, Allen has starred in just six films he hasn't directed ("Play It Again, Sam," "The Front," "Scenes From a Mall," the 1996 "Sunshine Boys" TV remake, "Antz" and "Picking Up the Pieces") and limited himself to a handful of other uncredited cameos. Though he's scarcely performed in anything in recent years - his last role as an actor was in 2006's "Scoop" - some of his most intriguing roles have come in the films in which he's scarcely seen,...

Woody Allen will be gracing our screens once again, but not in one of his own pictures. The diminutive auteur been noticeably absent from his recent directorial output, last appearing in 2006's little-seen Scoop. French newspaper Le Parisien report that Woody will be starring in the debut feature by French short-filmmaker Sophie Lellouche, entitled Paris Manhattan. A very Woody-sounding title, no? Lellouche's film focuses on a thirty-something pharmacist, played by Alice Taglioni, and her family's attempts to cure her of her Woody Allen...

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Woody Allen has taken a break from directing to return to acting. The 75-year-old filmmaker filmed a scene on April 2 for the upcoming movie ‘Paris Manhattan’ in front of the Plaza Athenee hotel on Avenue Montaigne in the city of lights, collider.com is reporting. Allen plays himself in ‘Paris Manhattan,’ his first acting role since he starred in his own movie ‘Scoop’ in 2006. ‘Paris Manhattan’ is a romantic comedy, and is the first movie to be helmed by French director Sophie Lellouche. It follows a young pharmacist, played by Alice Taglioni, who is obsessed with Allen. Her family hopes another man, played by Patrick Bruel, will get her mind [...]...

Jocelyn Quivrin, Bénabar in Incognito Jocelyn Quivrin, the French Academy’s César winner for most promising newcomer in 2008, died after losing control of his sports car while driving in a tunnel just outside of Paris on Sunday (Nov. 15) night. Quivrin was 30. Quivrin’s off-screen companion was actress Alice Taglioni, best known for playing a top model in Francis Veber’s comedy The Valet. The couple had a child in March. According to reports, Taglioni was driving in front of Quivrin on Sunday night; she called the police when the actor didn’t arrive home. Quivrin (born on Feb. 14, 1979) began his show-business career at the age of 10, appearing in the television series Les compagnons de [...]...

Paris -- French actor Jocelyn Quivrin died in a car accident Sunday night outside of Paris. He was 30.

Quivrin was best-known for his recent roles in Jan Kounen's popular comedy "99 Francs," teen boxoffice sensation "Lol" opposite Sophie Marceau, and next appears in the December release "La Famille Wolberg."

The actor won the Cesar award for most promising newcomer in 2008 for his role in "99 Francs" and was awarded the first ever Patrick Deware prize for most promising actor that year.

Quivrin leaves behind his companion, French actress Alice Taglioni, and their son, born in March. Taglioni was driving in front of Quivrin on Sunday night then called the police when Quivrin didn't arrive home. The French film community is mourning the actor, and tributes to his career are being planned for the coming days.

"At 30 years old, he was one of the most seductive faces of French cinema," French Cultural...

PARIS -- The French film world extended its awards season Monday night as young thesps Audrey Dana and Jocelyn Quivrin were named most promising newcomers at the Romy Schneider/Patrick Deware prize ceremony.

Dana, whose breakout performance in Claude Lelouch's "Crossed Tracks" earned her a Cesar nomination this year, received the Romy Schneider award, which has been given to a promising young actress since 1984.

Quivrin, also nominated for a Cesar for his role in Jan Koenen's "99 Francs", was awarded the first ever Patrick Deware prize for most promising actor. The Deware prize replaces the traditional Jean Gabin award, given to the country's most promising male talent since 1981.

Winners were chosen by two separate juries composed of French journalists.

Dana and Quivrin received their prizes at a lavish ceremony at Paris' Royal Monceau hotel in the company of family and friends, including a surprise visit from "Tracks" director Claude Lelouch and Quivrin's real-life companion and co-star of recently released comedy "Notre Univers Impitoyable", Alice Taglioni.

President Films

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Even if you didn't live in Paris in the swinging '60s, Francois Armanet's film (with its English title inexplicably adapted from "La Bande du drugstore") is likely to make you nostalgic for the freewheeling era with its elaborate fashions and terrific pop music. "Dandy", a tale of love and ennui among a quartet of attractive (needless to say) French teens, is the sort of mature and sophisticated treatment of teen amour that American audiences can only dream about seeing. The film was recently unveiled at the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival.

Set in the more innocent Parisian days before the 1968 political turmoil, the film depicts the complicated relationships among the sharply dressed but less than confident Philippe Mathieu Simonet), his aggressive best friend Marc (Aurelien Wilk), their sexually assured pal Nathalie (Alice Taglioni) and her friend Charlotte (Cecile Cassel). When Nathalie introduces Philippe to Charlotte at a party, he falls head over heels for her but is unable to make things happen despite her obvious encouragement. Eventually, Nathalie takes matters into her own hands and provides Philippe with some sexual lessons, though she's more interested in Charlotte's handsome divorced father (Thierry Lhermitte).

The episodic tale is best appreciated for its finely observed characterizations and its truthful portrait of the emotional and physical bumbling that results from teens trying to cope with their sexual and emotional needs. Alternately poignant and hilarious, sexy and moving, Armanet's screenplay, based on his novel, is filled with details, and his precise direction realizes them fully. The four lead performers seem utterly authentic in their roles, and the period re-creation contains the sort of small but important physical elements that add greatly to the fun. And it's all done to a fabulous '60s-era soundtrack featuring classic cuts by the likes of Otis Redding, the Animals, Aretha Franklin and many others.